1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to design automation tools. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for automatically generating designs for testing design automation tools such as synthesis, place and route, and simulation tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The increasing complexity of electronic devices has prompted logic designers to use a variety of design automation tools to assist in implementing designs on electronic devices such as programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and system on a chip devices (SOCs). In one example, designs are simulated using one tool and synthesized using another tool. In another example, an integrated platform includes a variety of tools, to perform synthesis, verification, and place and route operations. Because of the increasing complexity of electronic designs, the design automation tools used to implement the designs are also becoming increasingly complex.
However, the mechanisms for testing design automation tools are limited. In typical examples, limited sets of static test designs are provided to a design automation tool. The limited sets of test designs may not be sufficiently diverse to comprehensively test a design automation tool. Consequently, tools are often released to customers to allow customers to perform further beta testing and run through other possible scenarios that a design automation tool should be able to handle. However, having customers perform beta testing can often invoke the ire of well meaning users who may not be able to tell whether their own test design is faulty or the design automation tool itself is faulty. Furthermore, releasing tools that are not comprehensively tested may give the impression that an application or tool is not well developed. It is therefore desirable to provide improved methods and apparatus for comprehensively testing design automation tools and applications.